The rich are getting richer when it comes to the richest hedge fund and private equity billionaires.

At least 61 alternative investments titans crowd this year’s Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans. And the most well-off among them—the 18 that made Forbes’ top 100—for the most part got richer over the last year.

George Soros remains the richest hedge fund manager in the land with $14.2 billion. Soros ranked 14th among America’s wealthiest. John Paulson came in second among alternatives billionaires with $12.4 billion.

The year 2010 has been something of a rude awakening for Citigroup’s former star energy trading, and an even ruder one for the investors who have poured more than $1 billion into his new hedge fund.

Phibro head Andrew Hall’s Astenback Capital Management continued its losing ways in August, falling a further 2.74%. And while this year has been a tough one for commodity hedge funds everywhere, it’s been particularly hard on Astenback, which is down 11.94% through the year’s first eight months.